Purple Patch Half Marathon

What a good morning out! Most of you probably don't know this, but I used to live very close to the Grand Union for about 10 years, so this was my old stomping grounds. I didn't see any other Tri-Forcers, but I was incognito myself. I had a good start and was about 8th person at mile one - uh, oops! I dialled down to a more comfortable pace, but blew up a bit at mile 9 near Ricky. I had this guy on my shoulder for about the last 4-5 miles which I didn't mind as it kept me going. The last mile went up the hill in Cassiobury Park which made a very uncomfortable finish. :P... Ended up with about 1:37 on the line, which is okay for this time of the year. However, lessons learned here is not to go out on the bike the day before a Half Marathon ---it hurts. :'(

Ricky 9

I can't believe that I haven't used this blog in ages. Anyway, a lot has happen this season. I went to the European and World Long Distance Triathlon Championships.

I've been kicked back for a while since, and have been doing road races the pas few months. Nothing really riveting, but that's things so far.

Anyway, today I had a good day out at the Rickmansworth 9 Mile race (www.rickyroadrun.co.uk ). This is my 3rd outing for this event as I like it very much. It's really a lumpy one that follows along the outside of Chorelywood. We used to live in the area for about 5 years. For the UK, it's actually pretty quiet and chilled out. Anyway, back to the race - here's an image of the race start. There were about 600 starters today. It's the highest number to date.I actually PB'ed for this course at 1:01:50! I haven't gotten down under the magic hour as the weather gods weren't with me. It was very windy out there and started to pour down at about 6 miles.



Here's me pouring it on towards the finish. Su actually is the photographer. Take a bow Su!

So that's me for the moment. Su and I are waiting on the results of our Level 1 Triathlon Coaching exams. We're probably going to progress to the next level in the Spring, so all you newbie triathletes watch out for coach Rav. ;)

Dubai Tri Club Triathlon

Three Tri-dudes Hi all. Had a great little race here in Dubai. The Dubai Triathlon Club held an aquathon today at 7am local time. The Short Course race kicked off as the first wave and then 5 minutes later came us men. Our course was an 800m swim followed by a 5km run was evidently quite competitive. I didn't struggle thru the swim as usual, so it was a suprise to me when I got out of the water in a little over 13 minutes. Then the transition was pretty smooth even with a pair of normal laced trainers. The run was a double loop on the hotel Marina, all nice and open. Ended up with a total of about 36 minutes (32nd out of a 104). This has got to be the shortest race I've ever done. ;) It was good fun.

Very Hot.... Hotter than a Hot Thing!

I finally wedged my colleague out of the apartment to get down to the beach. We had a really nice lunch at the Limetree Cafe. Really good food run by some expats over here. It was really heaving. We eventually got down to the public beach and it was way too hot!!! About 38 C today. I only managed one lap in the harbor, as there were jellyfish all over the place... Ughhh.

Took a nice rest and siesta this afternoon and just chilled in the apartment in order to wait for the temp to cool down, but it didn't...... So I went running anyway. I took a clockwise route around the Dubai creek. One thing is that I managed to leave my water at the apartment... and this was a big mistake. I really suffered at about 11km. It's very dry here --- being a middleastern country. ;) And ended up with a nice 14 km loop. Runners are still a bit of an oddity here, but you can still manage without any trouble here. A little short, but very useful.

Off to swim at a hotel tomorrow morning. Later peeps!!

It's Hot Man!!

I'm in Dubai at the moment. I rode with Wolfi's group today. Left the apartment at 5:00 this morning! :oops: Started out from his shop past the Bur Dubai at about 06:00. We joined the main group after 10 km of warming up. The main group we joined was over 80 people. It was a nice thing to see I must say. We headed out at a brisk 35 kph. What a ride. We then hit about 40 km and split into 3 groups (70,100,120 km). I went for the 100 km group as a majority of the fast boys went for the 120. All was good until we turned to head back at 70 km. There was crosswind, headwind, sand... erghhhh. Then the main group excellerated and I got dropped...... I tried to pick up the pieces with the rest of the stragglers, but no one wanted to work together. So I gritted out the last 30 km and pulled a few people thru. We did get some people to work at the front eventually, but the wind kept changing as we made various turns to get back to Jumera. We all kind of went into survival mode at this point. Got to the Lime Tree Cafe finishing with 110 km! Just in time for breakfast at 9:30!!! A nice ride with really nice people.

That's some fine weather!!

Man what a day. It was just so nice out there. I think we hit something like 20 C. I got out on the bike and put in a good 50Km during lunch, but man the traffic was heavy. I guess it was due to the early leavers for the Easter weekend. Anyway, I did a loop that covered Borehamwood, Barnet, Enfield, Hatfield, and then back home to Napsbury. Felt like treacle today.

Here's a piccie of a dog I saw on the road. Isn't he the coolest thing in a car?

Schtatischtics

Ironrav and his trusty steed

Well ya know I'm still a bit fatigued from Sunday's efforts at Reading. Nevertheless, I managed my swim on Tuesday and a good 10 x 1 mile set on the bike yesterday. It was a beautiful day out there for a ride.



Today is looking like total crap as it's threatening to rain. However I need to do a run speed session and a brickie as well. Grrrrr.

Anyway... I forgot to mention this, but last week I picked up my new Landrover Freelander 2. It's an HSE model so it has all the bells and whistles. I now have the space to carry the bikes and other stuff!! Take a look at the photo attached. There will be more to come.

Here's my new baby!

Photos from Reading

Ironrav and Friends Before the Race. It was obviously a cold one out there and was it ever windy!!!

Oh! And here's me finishing. Nothing like the satisfaction in getting the job done! I'm well on track for Florida. I just need to Swim and Bike better.

Job Done

Well, what can I say? Things went ok this morning. I ended up with a 1:33 time at the Reading Half Marathon.

It started out cold and breezy, but once we got started all was good. I immediately went into the zone, which felt good. My splits were kind of all over the place, but were mostly around low 7 minute miles. Another good day out at Reading. ;)

Shakin in my boots!

Had an active recovery ride this morning in preparation for tomorrow's Half Marathon. And then..... we picked up my new Land Rover Freelander 2. It's absolutely booootiful. Oh man! I'll stick some photos later.

Wish me luck for tomorrow peeps.

Rav

All Change Please

Hi Gang! I've added a link to my music broadcasting link. I'm doing this for my Second Life site and as an open radio station for all you triathletes out there. Also, I've created a new forum for all my SL Tri members. Anyone can join - all are welcome. http://sltri.21.forumer.com/index.php

I got a nice brick session in today. Not too hard... as I'm racing on Sunday at the Reading Half Marathon. Am I going for a PB? Maybe - I guess it depends on how hard I go on the bike tomorrow morning.

Be cool!

Been a while

Training is going well. I finally hit a groove for my second build phase of my training... finally. The weather here in the Southeast of England has been bizzare to say the least for the last few days. There's been heavy wind, sleet, snow, sun, and bitter cold... WTF? I guess it's Spring trying to get a move on.

I had a good session during lunch with a 10 x 1 mile rep set on the bike. I tried keeping it on one road, but got bored seeing the same thing over and over again. This was a bit of a mistake as the wind just cut me down for a few of those intervals..
I'm off for a swim in a couple hours for a series of 200m intervals and then it's Miller time. Hehehe.

After dinner it's back to giving an online turbo session with my SL Tri buddies. Lately, we've been building up our SL Tri group and it's going ok. We're going to have some special guests coming over the next few weeks which should bolster our numbers. We need more of you triathletes out there to take the plunge and join us. It's good fun and is much more dynamic than a forum or chat interface. So come on down and check us out at: http://slurl.com/secondlife/Envy/148/62/26 .

We hope to have the second ever virtual triathlon in May, so watch this space.

Going along swimmingly

I missed a few days blogging. OMG! Such is the busy life of a consultant. ;) Here's what I've been up to. I checked out the new Land Rover Freelander 2 and I love it. I have booked an overnight test drive and I can't wait! They are beautiful vehicles.


Sunday's bike ride was relegated to a 2 1/2 hour turbo as it got too late to go outdoors for one. I made plenty of nice puddles.;) I got a lot of shirts ironed on this day. I am a star.

I actually took a day off yesterday (my second this month) and went out for dinner instead. It just got too late last night considering traveling, meetings and so on. A day off ? Me?

This morning I swam in the hotel pool here at the Westin to work the kinks out. It did me a world of good. The water was a much better temperature today as it was not like bath water as last time. Tonight's activities will be an hour run up north from the hotel and a movie. Weee!!

Another good one!

Still progressing. Twenty-four out of twenty-five days!! That's a record for me. I did a very nice run for lunch.. struggled to warm up and then did 4 reps at 6 minutes hard and 3 minutes easy. Ended up with an odd 9 km, but it was useful. ;) I then went swimming again last night. I'm sure by May I should be pretty damned fit!

Today's just a very long spin on the turbo (1:45) - gag. Let's see how that plays out.

Have a good day all and be healthy!

Swim Fitness / Virtual Cycling

It was a good day indeed. After the snow cleared, it was a bit to wet to ride. I decided to take one of coach Troy's free session number 4 on the turbo and stretched it to an hour (http://spinervals.com/). It really was cold in my garage for the first few minutes, but I still made some good puddles.

I finally got to Cannon's for a proper swim set. I'm using Steve Tarpinian's The Triathlete's Guide to Swim Training. I highly recommend this book as it's got a lot of good fundamentals and triathlon specific training in it. I'm currently working with the long distance 16-week programme that fits perfectly with my build for Florida.

I started early, so I should be able to get out for a run this morning. Woohoo!! I also have a swim planned for tonight.

So I've been thinking about how to set up virtual spinning/turbo'ing on Second Life and am getting there. I just need to rent some land and get some additional software to allow voice input. I should have something workable very soon! If anyone is interested, please leave a note.

Snow? In England?

It snowed last night. It's unbelievable as it must have come down between 12-6 last night. It was so beautiful out there this morning. The trees were coated with snow, the road was covered - everything was white. ;) There's only a telltale amount out there right now, but I'm hoping for more.

So in the training front, things changed a bit. I'm very flexible in my approach, but I do eventually get the job done. I ran a very easy 7km run for lunch. It was a simple out and back towards Radlett.

Whilst running I was listening to a Podcast by Simply Stu (http://www.simplystu.com/) and heard some interesting things in regards to going slow for your base training. This was very interesting stuff and suggest that all you out there listen to the valuable words in this podcast. I've always said that the guys that always go out and blast it out on the roads and pool day in, day out are just wasting valuable time. It's this time of year that is so important for building that base and working on that heart muscle.

I also was listening to the second part of that podcast discussing Core Performance (http://www.coreperformance.com/index.php). There's some good stuff available on this site. The programmes look very useful. I signed up for the 1 week introductory offer and did the first session last night. Each element of the workout has a companion Quicktime video that shows you how to do the workout. The session that I did was a very good workout that wasn't too hard and lasted for about an hour. If you want to re-balance those muscles and get the best out of your body, this may be a very good method for getting there.

So today will be a bike swim day. Let's see if I stick to it. I'm really thinking that I quickly need some help with the old swimming next month. I might be on the lookout for some coaching. ;) Have a good one everybody!

Brick Day

On what used to be my recovery day (Mondays)I'm actually doing my brick sessions now. I do them in my garage which is great! Before living in this house, I hadn't had a garage for years!!! Anyway, the session was simple and consisted of a 45 minute turbo followed by a 15 minutes on the road. Man it is getting cold out there! Brrrrrr.... This has been the 3rd or 4th week in a row where I'm doing proper bricks now. I'm going to start increasing distance and tempo over the next couple of weeks. I'm hoping that this will alleviate the race shock of transitioning from a really hard bike to a run come race time.

Today's line-up is a lunchtime swim and a track session with the Striders. This will mean a hard training day for me. Nice!

Garmin 305

Before I forget and I usually do about these things - I got a Garmin 305 for Christmas and will be commenting on this for the next few months. So far I am much impressed. I'd like to keep a running listing and commentary on these kinds of products, so anyone is welcome to provide input. ;)

Garmin 305

Before I forget and I usually do about these things - I got a Garmin 305 for Christmas and will be commenting on this for the next few months. So far I much impressed. I'd like to keep a running listing and commentary on these kinds of products, so anyone is welcome to provide input. ;)

Biking or Turbo that is the question!

So I got up late today to ride and had to do the uusual weekend things. I sort of feel like I almost back-pedaled on my plan for the year as to the train every day thing... but I couldn't let that happen. I ended up doing a hard one hour turbo session by sitting through Coach Troy's Big Gear Strength - Workout 11.0 (http://spinervals.com/). This is a very good one for building up those quads. I recommend this for any of you budding hill climbers!

Busy busy busy!!!

Another 45 minutes before a nice hour long hill running session. I'm also doing a real swim set finally. No more bath temperature pools for me! Should be good, but I am wasted from yesterday as I have had way too much going on in my working life these days and the year has only begun!!

---Nice run btw. It must of rained like hell because it'e REALLY muddy out there. ;)

If you didn't know this about me, I'm a big Second Lifer. I have an avatar that's been alive for about 3 months. I've built a small triathlon group called Triathlon SL. Please join it if you can as I'm trying to justify developing an area for a site - portal for triathletes and other distance athletes. More info to follow.

Travel Day Blues

Flying back to the UK from Malta is equivalent to half a transatlantic flight. I do not like it as I am totally knackered. I lucked out by missing that terrible wind storm! Anyway I'm set for a run swim day. This will make 18 out of 19 days of training so far this year!!! For all of you who don't know this, I'm really trying hard to train just about every day this year --I know, I missed a day already... I find that it's all about moderation and adaptation. I have to push myself out the door some days, but I know that it will help me with my ultimate goal from top performances this year. So I'm just about ready to hit the trails for a nice jaunt around the lakes. See y'all later. ;)

Malta Trip

This is my third trip to Malta since the beginning of December. It's a business trip as I'm stuck around the airport during the daytime. Training here is pretty good. We're staying at the Westin Hotel (http://www.westinmalta.com/) which is pretty nice. They have a well appointed gym and all the facilities you need to keep the fitness up. The only small thing is the pool. It really is on the small size and WAY too hot, but you can't have everything. The hotel has a good map for a 5 and 8 km out and back run. I did this last night and hit it hard. I just tipped under 37 minutes for the 8 km loop which felt good. This morning I immersed myself in that pool they call a bath, so I'm on target. Tonight is going to be about 2 hours on the exercise bike followed by a well deserved meal with a colleague. I have an early start tomorrow for my flight back...(7:30 flight) oh man!